AppStoreCelebrates5YearAnniversaryWithSpecialTimelineIniTunes

Apple is celebrating the fifth anniversary of the App Store in another big way. Just hours after announcing that many of the most popular apps for the iPhone/iPod touch and iPad are now available for free, Apple has posted a special section in iTunes called “5 Years of the App Store.”
The section, which is also available via the App Store app in iOS, features two sub-sections, Apps + Games, and Milestones.
Not surprisingly, the first lists the free apps and games noted earlier in the day. The second includes key moments in App Store history, arranged by year. Apple notes that these are “key moments that have made the App Store the world’s most innovative destination for apps.”
For example, under 2008 Milestones, it’s noted that Sega’s Super Monkey topped 300,000 downloads in its first month. In October 2011, Facebook's app went universal and was finally available on the iPad.
Announced July 10, 2008, the App Store started out with 500 apps, 25 percent of which were free. During its first weekend, it saw initial downloads totaling 10 million.
We'll be publishing our own take on the App Store and its anniversary later in the week. Until then, see: Apple's iOS 7 Offers An Opportunity For New, Emergent Devs To Succeed, The App Store Continues To Dominate Google Play Where It Counts, and App Store Hits 50 Billion: Someone Just Won A $10,000 Gift Card.